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Schizophrenia, Sleep and Acupuncture

The most consequential intention of this book is to be an introduction for both Western doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists, as well as for acupuncturists. Moreover, we hope that this book will be a source of information for patients with schizophrenia and their families and friends. Although many people have warned us that this is a very broad goal, we felt that it was necessary to try to achieve it. By publishing this book, we aim to build a bridge between Western and Eastern medicine. The main goal of this book is therefore; to create more understanding and to stimulate cooperation across the border of the medicine we were taught, in order to create better a treatment for our patients.

Peggy M.P.C. Bosch and Maurits W.M.L. van den Noort (Editors)

ISBN: 978-0-88937-355-6

© Hogrefe & Huber (http://www.hogrefe.de/?mod=detail&ISBN=978-0-88937-355-6&PHPSESSID=4p8kgd3a1h3pdfc6atmf0r11f3)

(Official release 1 November 2008)

The most consequential intention of this book is to be an introduction for both Western doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists, as well as for acupuncturists. Moreover, we hope that this book will be a source of information for patients with schizophrenia and their families and friends. Although many people have warned us that this is a very broad goal, we felt that it was necessary to try to achieve it. By publishing this book, we aim to build a bridge between Western and Eastern medicine. The main goal of this book is therefore; to create more understanding and to stimulate cooperation across the border of the medicine we were taught, in order to create better a treatment for our patients.

We have not attempted to cover all the areas in the book. We have merely tried to give an introduction into the varying fields of medicine, research, and treatment. For further information we encourage all our readers to look up the literature that was mentioned in the various chapters. Moreover, colleagues out of the different fields are encouraged to mingle and learn from one another and from the cooperation.

Although more thorough research is needed into this area, we try to provide all the ingredients that the treatment of patients with schizophrenia could; and perhaps should, contain. We inform you about schizophrenia, its research and the effects (both wanted and unwanted) of our Western treatments. We inform you about sleep and its related disorders with a special emphasis on sleep in patients with schizophrenia. Moreover, we focus on the possibilities of acupuncture in the treatment of sleeping disorders, specifically looking at some neurotransmitters that were found to be involved both in acupuncture as well as sleep. Furthermore, we include information on dopamine, which is involved in schizophrenia as well as Parkinson’s disease, and of which its levels turn out to be normalized by acupuncture, thereby explaining some of the results that are being found. Finally, we present some background on the Chinese philosophy and theory behind acupuncture, behind acupuncture for schizophrenia as well as a case study on a patient with schizophrenia.

From a Chinese point of view, the theory is clear, in short; acupuncture will harmonize the qi in the body, and create a better balance. The increased balance will result in better mental and bodily health. From a Western point of view, however, this does not sound convincing and the need is expressed for an explanation in Western terms, e.a. not involving qi, shen, phlegm, etc. By presenting the research that is currently continuing in the field of neuroimaging and neurotransmitters, we wish to satisfy our Western readers. On the basis of current research, we can shortly hypothesize that acupuncture seems to have a normalizing effect on neurotransmitter levels in the brain (which might also be the reason for the fact that some studies on “normal” controls without any obvious illnesses, did not result in any significant findings).

Concluding, we must mention the question that people frequently ask us when giving lectures on the topic: Can acupuncture cure schizophrenia? We answer this question honestly: no, from our point of view it can not. However, it looks as though acupuncture can make the life of patients with schizophrenia a lot more comfortable. It can successfully treat sleeping disorders and thereby increase life quality, concentration, and even cognition. It can successfully treat side effects of antipsychotic drugs and thereby enhance compliance to these drugs. Acupuncture sometimes seems to increase the way in which the body responds to antipsychotic drugs, it seems to increase the working, often resulting in lower levels of drugs needed and therefore less side effects.

However, more research is needed (and currently going on in the UK as well as the Netherlands). We hope that, in the years to come, we will be able to come up with more results and specifics. We encourage all Western psychiatrists and MD’s to cooperate with well trained acupuncturists, and vice versa. As we discribe in the case study (which was only one example, we could have mentioned many more), patients already seek a combined treatment, without informing the involved Western and Eastern medicinal staff. It might be much better if both the Eastern as well as the Western staff would communicate and cooperate with each other. That way, treatments could be combined and this would result in more control and support and less risk for patients. What we can not achieve alone, we might be able to achieve together. Our patients deserve a chance on a controlled and combined treatment.

CHAPTERS OF THE BOOK

CHAPTER 1:

AN INTRODUCTION TO SCHIZOPHRENIA

Hugo A. Jørgensen, Prof, PhD, MD & Erik Johnsen, MD

Key words: schizophrenia, symptoms, epidemiology, risk factors, neuropathology

CHAPTER 2:

SCHIZOPHRENIA: WHAT DO WE KNOW FROM NEUROIMAGING RESEARCH?

Maurits van den Noort, PhD & Peggy Bosch, MA, LAc

Key words: schizophrenia, ERP, PET, SPECT, (f)MRI

CHAPTER 3:

THE PHARMACOTHERAPY OF SCHIZOPHRENIA: PAST, PRESENT, AND POSSIBLE FUTURE

Bart A. Ellenbroek, PhD

Key words: schizophrenia, pharmacotherapy, antipsychotic drugs, cognitive symptoms, positive symptoms

CHAPTER 4:

TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA IN PRACTICE: EMPHASIZING EARLY WARNING SYMPTOMS

Dick Brouwer, MD, Annita Bosveld, MA, Ineke van der Lans, & Dzelal Dani, MSc

Key words: schizophrenia, early warning symptoms, relapses, questionnaires, prevention

CHAPTER 5:

A CROSS-CULTURAL APPROACH TO THE DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

Leila Kozak, PhD, MS, DiHom, Lorin D. Boynton, PhD, MD, Arushi Sinha, PhD, & Jake Bentley, MA

Key words: schizophrenia, cross-cultural issues in mental health, integrative medicine, integrative psychiatry, medical anthropology

CHAPTER 6:

WHAT IS SLEEP AND WHAT CAN GO WRONG WITH SLEEP?

Anton M.L. Coenen, Prof, PhD

Key words: deep sleep, REM sleep, sleep functions, sleep disorders, insomnia, snoring, narcolepsy, sleep of patients with schizophrenia

CHAPTER 7:

SLEEP OF PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA ON AND OFF MELATONIN TREATMENT: CONTRADICTIONS AND HYPOTHESIS

Vadim S. Rotenberg, Prof, PhD, MD, DSc

Key words: schizophrenia, REM, Melatonin, treatment

CHAPTER 8:

AN INTRODUCTION TO TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE

LiPing Han, MB, MBAcC, FRCHM, MATCM

Key words: TCM, yin, yang, Five Element theory, Zang Fu organs

CHAPTER 9:

WHAT IS THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE AND HOW DOES THIS PHILOSOPHY AFFECT LIFE?

Stan Switala, PhD, BSc (Jt Hons), ND Dip, Ac DipCHM

Key words: philosophy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, quantum physics, consciousness, lifestyle

CHAPTER 10:

ACUPUNCTURE MODALITIES, METHODOLOGY, AND KEY PROBLEMS FOR WESTERN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Peggy Bosch, MA, LAc, Brigitte Ausfeld, Prof, PhD, MD, & Maurits van den Noort, PhD

Key words: acupuncture modalities, methodology, control groups, placebo needle, sham acupuncture

CHAPTER 11:

THE SEARCH FOR THE MECHANISM BEHIND ACUPUNCTURE: RESEARCH WITH NEUROIMAGING

Peggy Bosch, MA, LAc & Maurits van den Noort, PhD

Key words: acupuncture, neuroimaging, limbic system, control group, point specificity

CHAPTER 12:

ACUPUNCTURE AND THE DOPAMINERGIC SYSTEM

Sabina Lim, Prof, PhD, MD, Seung Youn, MD, DC, DACNB, DIBAK, & Chihyoung Son, MD

Key words: acupuncture, dopamine, schizophrenia, sleep, insomnia, Yin Heel vessel, Yang Heel vessel

CHAPTER 13:

ACUPUNCTURE AND SLEEP: CAN ACUPUNCTURE BE USED IN THE TREATMENT OF INSOMNIA AND SCHIZOPHRENIA?

Peggy Bosch, MA, LAc, Anton M.L. Coenen, Prof, PhD, Bart A. Ellenbroek, PhD, & Maurits van den Noort, PhD

Key words: acupuncture, sleep, insomnia, schizophrenia, methodological limitations

CHAPTER 14:

TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

Yifan Yang, MD, MSc

Key words: Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture, qi, Five Internal Organs System, mental disorders

CHAPTER 15:

ACUPUNCTURE AND MOXIBUSTION TREATMENTS FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA AND SLEEP DISTURBANCES

Qinzhang Ding, Prof, PhD, Junying Yan, & Yixiong Ma

Key words: Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, qi, mental disorders

CHAPTER 16:

ACUPUNCTURE IN THE TREATMENT OF SCHIZOPHRENIA: A CASE STUDY

Patricia Ronan, MSc, PCMedEd, RMN, Neil Quinton, LicAc, MBAcC, LicOHM, MRCHM, & Dominic Harbinson, LicAc, MBAcC, LicOHM, MRCHM

Key words: acupuncture, schizophrenia, anxiety, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), sleep
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*If you have any questions/remarks, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Contact information:

Peggy Bosch –> [email protected]
Maurits van den Noort –> [email protected]


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